Dirigible of Doom
by Uncle Sporkums
Summary: Another gender reversal Max Fleischer Superwoman story I've done based on the 40's cartoons, with a plot loosely taken from the Golden Age Superman comics. In this one Superwoman must stop the mad despot Luthor from starting a war between two countries. I apologize for the poor storytelling, as this is one of the earliest stories I've written.


"Up in the sky,look!" "It's a bird!" "It's a plane!" "It's Superwoman!"

Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! This amazing stranger from the planet Krypton! The Woman of Steel,Superwoman! Posessing remarkable physical strength,Superwoman fights a never ending battle for truth and justice! Disguised as a mild mannered newspaper reporter, Clara Kent!

On a cloudy night in a town of the small European country of Toran, a man walks outside of a local tavern and opens the door of his car to get in,when suddenly, he hears a high pitched whistling sound, and looks up too late to see a missle head for his vicinity. The missle hits the ground at an extremely high velocity and explodes,leaving a large crater in the gound where the man,his car, and several buildings used to be. Up in the sky,the silouhette of a large floating object goes up through the clouds.

The next day in the Toran Times,the headline read "Sister Country Galonia Launches Suprise Attack!" a sub read "President Monuval Orders Retaliation!" In the United States,The Daily Planet's headline read "War Brewing In Europe"

In the Chief Editor's office,Perry White was briefing his ace reporters Clara Kent and Louis Lane. "Now be careful out there you two,there's all kinds of dangerous things going on over there."

"Don't worry Chief, I'll take good care of Clara." Louis said condescendingly.

"Nice, Louis,but who's going to take care of you?" Clara thought to herself as the two left.  
After landing in Galonia International Airport the two were detained for several hours while their luggage and backrounds were checked as a precaution to make sure they weren't spies. Ultimately,the two were let go with a smile and a "Sorry 'bout that, folks." in broken English from the security guard.

"Good thing they didn't do a body search,I don't know how I would've explained the costume under my clothes!" Clara thought with a nervous smile and a blush.

The dirigible floated evenly just above the clouds,inside the giant operations center, men in red flowing robes worked calmly at the controls.

Seated on a throne with two guards, Alexei Luthor,a red haired multi-millionare,also dressed in a red robe,prepared his next move. Luthor was the son of a Dutch father and a Russian mother,he was a lonely child, living in the minute country of Pocchia in absolute poverty with whatever money his father could bring home as a railway ,Luthor stuck dilligently to his studies and amassed a great amount of intelligence,and began to make money inventing weapons for the army. But Luthor's brilliant mind began to drift towards more grandiose plans and he wondered why he should help his country rule the world when he could do it himself. So,after rounding up a large number of disenchanted soldiers and teaching them how to replicate his amazing weapons,Luthor staged a massive coup against the Pocchian government and was successful,becoming the country's new President. But the power quickly went to the young ruler's head,and he became a vile dictator,ruling the country with an iron his now massive fortune he was able to construct such massive machines such as the dirigible he was floating ,Luthor was setting his sites on conquering Europe several countries at a time,by attacking,then letting them destroy each other. "Galonia in site,sir." one of Luthor's technicians announced.

"Ready the missle." Luthor commanded.

In the office of Galonia's President,a tall,easygoing man named Rufus Caglistam,Louis and Clara were sitting opposite him,Louis was writing down his every word on his notepad as the President spoke. "Rest assured,both of you. We will persue every peaceful avenue with our neighbors the Toranians. We will find out who actually.." Suddenly the office was rocked by the sound of a mighty explosion,which knocked the three out of their seats!

"Good Heavens! What was that?" Louis exclaimed.

Suddenly an aide ran into the room and said something in the Galonian tongue before exiting.

"What did he say?" Louis nervously asked as he got to his feet.

"He said the Toranians have launched an attack on us!" The President walked over to his phone and dialed a number,then spoke rapidly in Galonian before hanging up.

"What was that all about?" Clara asked.

"We're forming a counter attack strategy." President Caglistam responded grimly,mopping his brow with a handkerchief.

"But you said.." Louis began to protest before the President cut him off, saying "I know what I said, but innocent Galonian lives are now at stake! I'm afraid you two will have to get out of here for your own safety!" The President again picked up the phone and said something into it before putting it back on the cradle. "I've already arranged for your safe transportation back to the airport." A large man entered the room and said with a thick accent "Follow me,please." The two reporters reluctantly did so as the President said "Please have a safe voyage back home,my friends." before they left.

Luthor gazed at the Galonian landscape through a telescope and said "They have not retaliated yet,maybe I need to give them another little push! Ready another missle!"

As Louis looked out the window of the rather beaten up limousine, he saw the giant airship descend and shouted "Stop the car!" the driver did so and Louis got out just in time to see the dirigible fire a missle at a distant area. There was a large explosion!

"Louis,get back in here! We have to get out of here while there's still time!" Clara yelled exasperatedly.

Louis turned to her and said "Sorry,Clara,but I've got to help stop this!" he then ran towards the area where the airship hovered as the chauffer said to Clara "Miss,we've got to get out of here!" but to his suprise, Clara bolted out of the vehicle as well!  
Louis walked up to an abandoned bunker where a machine gun had been carelessly left behind. After checking that it was loaded,Louis aimed the weapon at the dirigible and began firing!

Luthor and his men could hear the clinking of bullets hitting the airship's exterior. "Sir,we're under fire!" One of his men reported.

"Find out who it is!" Luthor commanded.

Upon zeroing in on Louis, one of the technitions shouted "Enemy sighted,sir! Should we open fire?"

"No! Bring him to me!" Luthor ordered.

Suddenly, a giant steel claw emitted from the dirigible and sped towards Louis. Louis dropped the gun and attempted to enter the bunker,but he wasn't fast enough and the claw wrapped around him and pulled him up to the floating fortress as he screamed for help.

Clara heard Louis' screams and saw him being lifted into the airship. She looked around to make sure no one was watching her,then she took her jacket off,saying in a mighty voice "This looks like a job for Superwoman!" She then ducked behind a large tree and stripped of the rest of her outer clothing, she removed her glasses and let down her hair,then stood revealed as Superwoman! Superwoman then took a mighty leap and flew up towards the airship as it ascended towards the clouds.  
"Who are you?" Luthor demanded when a bound Louis was brought before him.

"I'm Louis Lane, a reporter for The Daily Planet!" Louis angrily replied.

"Why were you firing at us? Did the President hire you?" Luthor asked.

"No! I just saw you coming from the clouds and firing your missle,and I figured you were from the country of Toran!" Louis said defensively.

"Ha! You are wrong,reporter! I am Luthor! The mighty ruler of Pocchia, and soon,all of Europe! I've played these two pathetic countries against each other like pieces on a chess board! And now that you've gotten in my way,you pathetic ant,I have no choice but to crush you under my boot!" Said Luthor as Louis looked in horror as Luthor's guards lowered their guns toward his head!

Suddenly,one of Luthor's men announced "Sir, an object is approaching our vicinity!"

"What? What is it?" Luthor asked.

The man replied in a nervous voice "Well,sir,you aren't going to believe this,but it looks like a flying woman!"

Louis' heart soared at the report "My hero! She's come!" he said excitedly to himself.

Luthor thought "Impossible! The Superwoman here? How can that be?" then ordered "Hit her with everything we've got!" "Yes,sir!" his underlings responded.

As Superwoman neared the dirigible,a missle shot out from the ship's underbelly and hit her head on! In the tremendous explosion, Superwoman was knocked back,but quickly regained her altitude and jetted to the airship's missle bay and deformed it with her bare hands! The Maiden of Might then began to pound her way into the ship through the bottom.

"Sir! The flying woman just shook off the missle like it was nothing!" An engineer announced.

"I don't care! Do it again!" Luthor shouted as he began to sweat.

"I'm trying, sir,but the missle bay is jammed and now I've lost sight of the target!" The engineer said exasperatedly.

Suddenly there came a banging on the room's floor and Superwoman smashed in trough the floor! "Superwoman!" Louis said joyfully.

"So,if it isn't the modern day Heraclea* herself! Well,Miss Woman of Tomorrow,you and this reporter may have gotten in here alive,but neither of you shall leave that way!" Luthor said smugly as he pulled the panel of the wall behind him to reveal a large machine with a protruding nozzle. "This sophisticated laser can cut through solid steel in an instant! Since you are The Woman of Steel,let's see how you fare against it!" Luthor snapped,before throwing a switch on the machine,which sent a beam of light at Superwoman.

Superwoman was slowly dragged back by the laser as she put her arms in front of her in a crossed position.  
"Too much for you,Maiden of Might?" Luthor asked before roaring with laughter.

Just as he had said this however,Superwoman's eyes began to glow,and as she concentrated on the nozzle of the laser machine,beams of light eminated from her eyes and toward the barrel of the weapon,which then melted,and the laser shorted out!

"What?! I can't believe it! Hurry men,destroy both of them!" Luthor shouted.

The men grabbed their weapons, Superwoman and began firing,only to have the bullets bounce off of her, she then grabbed the guns from the men and crushed them with little effort. She then knocked out all of men,one by one,before breaking Louis' bonds with one quick snap of the ropes! As Louis got to his feet,Superwoman rushed to the controls,and used her mighty fists to pound right through them! Luthor,who had retreated to the back of the room screamed "Get away from those! Get away,I say!" But it was too late,the engines started to sputter and die. Luthor then retreated into the room behind the wall and shut the door. Superwoman rushed over to the door and pulled it aside,but Luthor was nowhere to be found! She went back over to Louis and took him in the crook of her arm and taking all of the unconcious men by the collars of their robes,Superwoman kicked open the side door as the dirigible began to nosedive. Air rushed in as Superwoman took to the sky with a mighty leap! Seconds later, the airship crashed into the Golonian countryside with a massive explosion! After dropping Luthor's followers off at the local police station,Superwoman let Louis off in front of the American Embassy,she then took off to the sky.

Several days later the headline in the Daily Planet read "Superwoman Foils Dictator's Plan" and underneath it was a picture of Presidents Monuval and Caglistam shaking hands and smiling with a sub that read "Peace Restored To Galonia And Toran" while another read "Superwoman Vanishes Yet Again".

At the office Clara and Louis shared, the two sat at Louis' desk looking over the paper. "Strange how Superwoman always shows up wherever we are." Louis said.

"I guess we just happen to be lucky." Clara assured him.

"Anyway,it's great to be back in the States!" she added.

"Right,Clara,Thanks to Superwoman!" Louis said in a relieved voice.

Clara turns to us, smiles heroically, pulls down her glasses,and winks!

THE END

*Also known as Palaemona. The original,female version of Hercules. 


End file.
